The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned
he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
Isaiah 40:13-15
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
...............
"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."
-Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot
The Psalmist, Isaiah, and Carl Sagan draw a line between the vastness of the observable universe and the absurdity of man's vain attempts to control one another. Nations make bold claims, even messianic claims, but they are a vain hope, a faint flicker of hope, compared to the surpassing permanence and power of our Maker who sits enthroned in the heavens. Nations fight and quarrel over land that appears like a postage stamp next to the light years of cosmos that exists under the rule and reign of Almighty God.
And it does our souls good to stand in wonder and consider our fragility, our finitude, our tiny blip on the cosmic radar compared to the long arc of time that stretches before and after us. We are better men for considering our humble state and letting that awe and wonder shape our confidence in God.
Sagan and his contemporaries thought that Science did a better job than religion at provoking this awe and humility. Sadly, there are just as many atrocities derived from atheism (Soviet Russia, Maoist China) and science (Nazi eugenics, modern abortion) than there have been wars of religion. This speaks to the universal corruption of man, which bleeds through our best efforts and brings us to our knees before our Maker. Sagan stopped short of true humility, ironically claiming himself to understand man's place in the universe, as if he could stand above it all and see the forest for the trees in a way the rest of us could not. Pride masquerading as humility.
True humility will lead individuals and entire nations to trust not in laws, bureaucracies, executive orders, or political promises but to trust in the God who sees them as drops in the bucket. True humility cannot stop at a vague mystical feeling of smallness or nothingness. It must go on to turn its eyes to what is truly great and permanent - the living God who reigns over us with meticulous attention to every detail of our lives, even numbering the hairs of our heads and each day of our lives before they happen. Look to him, hope in his personal love for you, and your humility will turn from nothing into something:
The king is not saved by his great army;
a is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love.
(Psalm 33:16-18)
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